Meaning & use
pay respects
Last updated
Meanings
phraseidiomformal
To show honor and sorrow for someone who has died, usually by attending a funeral or visiting a grave.
Grammar: Plural 'respects' is fixed; often followed by to: pay respects to the family.
Patterns
- pay respects to someone
- pay your last respects
Hundreds of people lined the street to pay their respects to the late mayor.
We visited the cemetery to pay respects to my grandfather.
Neighbors brought flowers to pay their last respects.
phraseidiomformalold-fashioned
To make a polite visit or greeting to a person of importance as a sign of courtesy.
Grammar: Slightly old-fashioned; often used in diplomatic or formal settings.
Patterns
- pay respects to someone
The ambassador called at the palace to pay his respects to the queen.
New students were asked to pay respects to the headmaster in his office.
She stopped by the old professor's house to pay her respects.
Word forms
| third person singular | pays respects |
|---|---|
| past tense | paid respects |
| -ing form | paying respects |
Common combinations
- pay last respects
- Mourners came to pay last respects at the church.
- pay respects to the family
- He went to pay respects to the family after the service.
- pay your respects
- Visitors can pay their respects at the memorial.
- come to pay respects
- Friends came to pay respects at the wake.
- pay respects at the grave
- She likes to pay respects at the grave each spring.
Synonyms and how they differ
- honor
- Honor is a general verb for showing respect and can be used for the living, while pay respects mostly fits funerals and formal visits.
- pay tribute
- Pay tribute usually involves speeches or praise of achievements, whereas pay respects can be a quiet visit.
- mourn
- Mourn names the grief itself, while pay respects names the outward action of attending or visiting.
Opposites
Word family
- respect noun
- admiration or a sign of honor
- respectful adjective
- showing respect
- respectfully adverb
- in a polite and honoring way
- disrespect noun
- a lack of respect
Commonly confused: pay respects or pay respect?
pay respects vs pay respect
Singular 'respect' is not used for this idiom, and 'pay respect to' sounds unnatural compared with 'pay respects to'.
Practice
After the funeral, many guests stayed to ______ to the widow.
Choose one answer.
Pay respects to someone means to show sympathy and honor. The other phrases have different meanings and do not fit a funeral setting.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “pay respects”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.